Identifying the priorities

We use our internal risk management processes, together with stakeholder dialogue and external benchmarking to help us identify the opportunities and challenges associated with our corporate responsibility.

Reputational risk is integrated into the Company’s overall risk management processes and we continue to provide managers with guidance, tools and support to ensure that they build it into their everyday thinking.  

The work of our Issues Management Council (IMC) also informs our priority action planning.  IMC is a cross functional team of Senior Executive Team (SET) area representatives, including MedImmune, that continuously monitors our external environment for new and emerging issues, including CR.  IMC works closely with the Global CR Team (whose Director sits on the IMC) to agree appropriate actions, based on their knowledge of our external landscape and stakeholder attitudes. Our Vice President, Group Public Affairs, chairs the IMC and is also a member of the Global Compliance Committee to ensure that any reputational risk is fully captured at the appropriate level.

The highest CR priorities are included in our CR Priority Action Plan, which provides the framework for managing the issues, including defined objectives and, where possible, appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs). The Plan is reviewed annually to ensure it continues to be relevant. In 2008, a review of the CR risks register by the Global CR Team confirmed that the Plan continues to reflect the appropriate material issues.

Our stakeholder engagement and internal processes also enable us to identify the issues which do not need to be included in the Plan, but about which people want to hear.  We continue to communicate openly throughout this Responsibility section of our website about our position on these issues, including any associated performance measures where possible.

To find out more about AstraZeneca’s overall risk management, visit our on-line Annual Report.

The content of this page was externally assured by Bureau Veritas, February 2009.